From My Eyes
by Grantly-Is-Wise
Summary: A story about Chris/Kim/Rachel from just before the start of series 5 till how i reckon the series is going to end for them. Shown from different peoples points of view.
1. Chris: When We First Met

_A/N: This is kind of like skins in the respect that each chapter is written from someone's point of view. Please enjoy and review. We start just before Series 5 when Kim and Rachel met for the first time... _

I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Max's words of reassurance were "She's an ex-hooker and you're a pretty boy, you'll be fine". I mean I didn't like to say it about Max because he's my mate and all, but I found it seriously weird how he gets to be incharge of four comprehensives when he couldn't even keep one private school open. I'm not sure if his 'scare them from the first day of year 7' method will go down that well with parents that mostly live off the dole and have kids that are 14 years younger than them. Not that I was a snobby git, I was once in their shoes, and I hoped I could help the John Fosters kids understand their new classmates. Oh and Ruby Fry of course!

The first thing I noticed about Rachel Mason was that she looked exhausted. It wasn't really surprising considering all that I heard had happened with the Kelly Family, Maxine Barlow's murder, the school being demolished and her deputy head leaving without very little warning. I guessed she'd had a pretty hard year and with a load of new intake of ex-private school kids, it wasn't about to get any easier.

What amazed me the most though is that she was genuinely excited for September to come around so we could get started. She'd already made plans with her head of pastoral care about how to get the students to bond through art projects and school trips!

I didn't like to make it too personal but, I reckon she's gone through hell with her personal life. With the whole prostitute thing and I'm just taking a wild guess at why her last deputy left in the middle of a crisis.

When I offered her a drink it was really when we got to talking. We went to the pub down the road from the school which apparently is where the staff all go for an after work drink. With a couple of beers downed we were deep in conversation about the colourful Waterloo Road staff.

"Well we have a cynical old git, an outrageous old flirt, a serial shagger, an art teacher that has just had charges dropped for taking a child from Africa, and an ex-alcoholic dinnerlady." She smiled for the first time that day, which I am not lying, made her look beautiful. With a bit of luck she'll be doing that most days, if I had anything to with it.

"So that will go well with John Fosters pompous menopausal cooking teacher, lesbian French teacher, and NQT that could easily be a circus clown"

"Circus clown NQT, Oh dear!" she remarked looking rather alarmed.

"Yes well I'm sure she'll be fine with your druggie kids!" I laughed it off, to which she took pretend offence.

"Well that's if they're not too busy terrorising your posh snobs!" she commented sarcastically in retaliation, playingly punching my arm. It seemed she had, had a bit too much to drink.

"Then of course there is my new deputy. What's he like?" she asked me seriously, starting to calm down.

I thought about my answer because whatever I said now was going to make a big impression on how she described me to the staff.

"I like to think I'm firm, but fair on all the kids. I'm really not that snooty at all because I grew up in a working-class family. I'm really passionate about my subject and I hope it rubs off on all my students, but I'm also up for a good time with my colleagues." The approving nod that I got for my answer reassured me that I had said the right thing.

One thing was for sure though. I was bloody lucky to be on a management team with **2** women.


	2. Rachel: Matchmaking in Management

"I don't know what to expect" Kim confessed, after forwardly telling me that Chris was just Eddie, only with a slightly different personality. Also he hadn't knocked up my sister, but she didn't say this bit out-loud. She could say what she liked, but Chris was not and never would be Eddie. You could say that I was being a bit harsh on the lad, but Eddie was a bloody good deputy and it was going to take a hell of a lot to live up to him. Plus I'm not even going to venture into a personal sense.

"Well I suppose I'd describe Chris as how you'd expect any John Foster's teacher to be, he's a bit scary, he's humourless, and he's ultra conservative" This was completely the opposite of what he was, but I wanted her to have the pleasant surprise that I had. Chris was definitely not how you'd expect any John Fosters teacher to be and he certainly wasn't in the slightest bit scary, in fact I think at our first meeting he was more scared of me. Humourless- no way, at the pub afterwards we'd had a proper good laugh, the first I'd had in weeks, plus the things we laughed about were hardly conservative.

"So why've you appointed him then?" she asked, getting her judgy Kim voice on. Though to be honest if it had been the other way round I'd be getting my judgy Rachel voice round about now.

"Because he's going to help with the new intake." Was my reply that I knew would send her up the wall.

"Rachel I can't believe..." she didn't get to finish her sentence because she was disturbed by the handsome devil himself appearing through the doorway.

"Rachel hiya."

"Chris hello" I greeted him, whilst watching her face perk up. I think she'd suddenly gained interest, so it was time to introduce them to each other. "Kim this is my new deputy head Christopher Mead"

"Kim Campbell head of Pastoral Care"

"Nice to meet you Kim, Rachel's told me a lot about you"

"Yes likewise." She replies raising an eyebrow. I desperately hoped that was not her attempt at flirting. If it was then boy have I got my work cut out for me? I was going to try to get them together because Kim really needs to move on from Andrew who went back to Rwanda and from baby Grace as well, and Chris is single so everybody's happy.

"Same again?" an offer we both accepted "Same again and a beer please" he turned round and instructed the waiter. Kim gave me her smile of sneaky approval, not only was he the opposite of all the things I had just said, but Chris had a nice bum as well.

"So are we here to celebrate or to seal ourselves for battle? I know there's been a lot of resistance to this merger" that was when I remembered the real reason we had met up near the end of the holidays. We needed a management team meeting and the school was still having the last finishing touches done to it, so we'd had to meet in this restaurant instead.

"Yes and that's why it's so good to have you on board" I knew it was a good idea to hire Christopher the minute he stepped through my office door because not only would he be a very good deputy, but he knew the John Fosters kids which is what they would need to feel welcome at Waterloo Road. "If they're pains in the backside please don't send them all to me" he replied

"I heard that some of your staff are all up in arms about this" Ah Kim's test. Well I supposed if he could please her then he could please anybody. I should have just left him to answer, but I had to make it clear that Waterloo Road was just as good for these pupils as John Fosters and we as a management team had know that

"Yes and that's why we've got to prove that we're as good as any independent school" I knew I'd caught their attention as I watched them nod their heads in agreement with me, which was exactly what I wanted "This is going to be the best year yet for Waterloo Road"

"And I want to be part of that" Chris piped in.

"Great, so we've got 3 weeks to get the school into shape before the New Year"

In 3 weeks we had a lot to do, and call me sad, but I was excited. I had a fantastic management team, lots of new teachers, new students, a new building in some places. A small anticipation brewing in my stomach made me believe what I had said- this was going to be the best year yet. No more guns, fire, drugs, bulldozers, assault, evil parent governors, alcoholic parents, murder, psychopathic kids and certainly no more dating my staff or my sister's ex for that matter.

I told myself all this, but little did I know that as they do every year, things were about to get interesting...


	3. Kim: First Day Fights

I guess the first day with the merger in place proved anything it was despite how much they 'hate' each other, the Waterloo Road kids and the ex-John Fosters kids aren't that different. Of course that didn't mean that today went smoothly at all. In the midst of one of our peace-building activities which seemed to be working, a gigantic fight broke out with about 100 people from each side attacking each other.

The person to break it up was no other than John Fosters ex-headteacher Max Tyler. He was an interesting character. I'm not sure the way he handled the kids was always that necessary. I mean "We will make sure the John Fosters standards are kept in the new Waterloo Road". What was that about? Obviously someone like Michaela was going to come out with some wise comment. I made it clear to him that he can't single out pupils and I think it sunk in because at break he came to apologise. When we got to talking, he wasn't that bad really. He was just use to strict order from kids whose family were paying for education. Him and Rachel locked horns straight away, and I don't think that's about to settle anytime soon. I didn't quite know what to say to her because apparently Max has made his mind up that she's a rubbish head, which is as far from the truth as it gets.

Not only were the kids at it, but the staff were as well. I went in at break to find Steph and Grantly in the middle of a row with Ruby the new cooking teacher. As Tom so rightly pointed out she is a disgrace to the profession- not only did she constantly pick out and bully the likes of Denzil Kelly, but she also undermined Rachel in front of the kids.

Christopher Mead was another interesting one. We spent a lot of time talking, and I could already tell that he'd fit in with the rest of the staff just fine, especially Steph Haydock. I wasn't quite sure if Rachel was after him or not, because as we know, she likes her deputy's, but then I'm a fine one to talk. It was too soon for me to be getting into anything anyway. It felt like Andrew had just gone back to Rwanda, and deep down I was reeling for him.

Then there was Helen Hopewell. Apparently she was picked out by Max as one of his best students, so I dread to think what the rest of them were like. The fact that Steph Haydock was a better teacher than her really said something. The kids had already nick-named her 'Hopeless Hopewell' by the end of first lesson. I suppose it wasn't the easiest first lesson in her defence, two of the toughest kids decided to scrap at each other. The reason one of them snapped was awful though, and I reckon I'll have a lot of work to do with the James sisters. I've done that sort of thing with kids before because like I said, the Waterloo Road and John Fosters kids are not that different.

Still this is Waterloo Road, the first day back or any day for that matter, were never going to be simple.


End file.
